THE THINGS I GAVE YOU.
» THE BANK — INTRODUCTORY NOTES
District 2 is open, bringing with it access to new and interesting locations—including the city's main bank branch. The bank is a large building with a stone exterior, wrought iron grating on the windows, and large, heavy metal doors that take surprisingly little effort to open, their hinges silent and well-oiled.
Early in the day on July 19, characters in the vicinity of the bank will hear first a low, metallic creaking sound from inside the building, like metal straining against metal. This is followed by the sharper noise of locks disengaging, and then the large, heavy doors on the front of the building swing open slightly, enough to let a person through.
Directly inside the doors is the bank lobby, and beyond that is the main banking floor, with elegant marble flooring and dimly lit chandeliers. It would appear that this was once the main commercial bank of the city, although it is now completely empty, with no tellers behind the counters and no cash in any of the drawers.
You may rifle through the tills and filing cabinets to your heart's content, but similar to the files in City Hall, there is no useful information to be found—all the papers are blank, or are empty forms without any personally identifying information. There are no monetary devices to be found either; this is, after all, not a city that operates on a cash system, so there are no coins or paper bills in any of the tills or, indeed, anywhere within the bank.
What you might be able to find, though, is a rack of delicate, burnished brass keys on a wall toward the back of the main banking hall. Each of these keys is attached to a stamped metal keychain bearing a name on one side and a number on the other. Some of these may be names you recognize, and some of them may not, but they are all names belonging to current residents of the city, and each key corresponds to a safety deposit box within the vault at the back of the building. Can you remember what you stored in that box for safekeeping? Maybe you had better go find out.
At the back of the main banking hall is a vault secured with a large circular metal door. The door is currently unlocked and propped open; it can be closed, but cannot be locked (intentionally, anyway) from either the inside or the outside. The vault contains row upon row of safety deposit boxes, each locked. Participating characters who are in possession of a key can open their own safety deposit box, but it is not currently possible to force open any safety deposit box that does not belong to them. After August 1, players will be able to use their safety deposit boxes to store their own belongings, and break-ins will become possible with prior player permission and appropriate consequences.
Below sections detail the safety deposit boxes for both choose-your-own-adventure players and randomized players! Please see the randomized matches for this event HERE.
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IT'S TRUE, PEOPLE TAKE THINGS BUT RARELY.
» SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES — A SELF-GUIDED TOUR
For some of you, getting into your safety deposit box is quite straightforward.
You take your key from the rack behind the teller's counter and make your way back through the building and into the vault. It's cool inside, the temperature well-regulated and the air dry. On the walls are rows upon rows of safety deposit boxes, and it may take you a moment to find the one that corresponds to the number stamped on your key. Does that number mean anything to you? It may, or it may not.
When you find your box, it takes very little effort to open it. A slide of your key, a quick turn, and the safety deposit box's door springs open to reveal the metal container within. You remove the metal box from the wall and bring it over to the table in the center of the room, clearly placed there for this express purpose. Maybe there are others around, or maybe you're alone. Do you remember yet, what it was you put in here? Well, there's no time like the present to check.
You open the safety deposit box to find—something that shouldn't be there. It's yours, that much you're sure of, but you didn't bring it with you to the city. You reach into the box to pick it up, and the surge of memory is immediate, sending your mind back to your strongest memory associated with the item in your hand.
Then the vault door swings shut, trapping you inside with whoever else has the misfortune of sharing the vault with you right now. No matter what force you try, the door won't open again. There doesn't appear to even be a mechanism that unlocks the door from the inside, and from within several feet of metal and stone, no one on the outside will be able to hear you shout. It seems hopeless—how long can anyone last, trapped in a place like this?
Should you turn back to the open safety deposit box, you might notice a slip of paper resting on the bottom. The paper looks aged, like it's been in the box for quite some time, and in printed text it reads: "Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it."
Maybe it means you should let another hold the item you've retrieved from the box… or maybe it means you should share the weight of memory. Try to interpret the meaning in whatever way you can. But should you decide to unburden yourself, and share with someone else the weight of the item you're holding in your hands, you may find that there's a means of escape after all.
Once you free yourself from the vault, for the next several days you find yourself feeling rather honest, like you may not be able to stop yourself from confessing the truth about the item you now carry…
Characters who wish to participate in the event, but who do not wish to randomize the contents of their safety deposit boxes, can open their safety deposit boxes to find an emotionally significant item belonging to the character—player's choice as to what the item is. The only guidelines are that it should be small enough to fit reasonably in a pocket and may not have any magical or weapon properties. Similarly, players are able to choose the memories associated with the items in the safety deposit boxes. The vault door will remain closed until the characters in the vault explain to each other the significance of their items and the memory associated with them, at which point it the vault mechanisms will disengage and the door will swing open as if it had never closed to begin with. However, for the four days following the event, characters who carry their safety deposit box item on their person will feel oddly compelled to tell other characters about its significance and meaning.
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A CRASH-SITE IS SACRED, WE'RE FAITHFUL.
» SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES — A JOINT VENTURE
For others of you, the contents of the safety deposit box may be considerably more disconcerting.
You also take your safety deposit box key from the rack behind the bank teller's counter and make your way back through the building and into the vault. It's cool inside, the temperature well-regulated and the air dry. On the walls are rows upon rows of safety deposit boxes, and it may take you a moment to find the one that corresponds to the number stamped on your key. Does that number mean anything to you? It may, or it may not.
When you find your box, it takes very little effort to open it. A slide of your key, a quick turn, and the safety deposit box's door springs open to reveal the metal container within. You remove the metal box from the wall and bring it over to the table in the center of the room, clearly placed there for this express purpose. Maybe there are others around, or maybe you're alone. Do you remember yet, what it was you put in here? Well, there's no time like the present to check.
You open the safety deposit box to find—wait, what is that? It certainly doesn't belong to you. Tucked inside the safety deposit box alongside the item is a slip of paper with another name on it, as well as a cryptic message: "Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it." The item isn't yours, but it does appear to belong to another resident of the city. Maybe your safety deposit boxes somehow got mixed up? It seems like it would be a good idea to find this person and return their property to them.
Whether you encounter the owner of the item in the vault or elsewhere in the city, when it comes time to hand the item over, two things happen. One—the doors are locked tight, refusing to allow either you or the item's owner out until you both understand what the item is and what it means to the other. To unburden your heart is the only way to free yourself.
And two—as the owner of the item explains its significance, you find yourself oddly captivated, resonating strongly with whatever emotion the item's owner most closely associates with it. You may not be able to see the memory that the other person describes, but you can certainly feel the emotions they felt—after all, the easiest way to unburden oneself is to share the load with another. Isn't that right?
Once you free yourself from your enthralled state, and once you have your own belongings returned to you, for the next several days you find yourself feeling rather honest, like you may not be able to stop yourself from confessing the truth about the item you now carry…
Characters who opted to randomize the contents of their safety deposit box during the plotting post, or who plotted a joint experience with another character, will open their safety deposit boxes to find a small, non-magical but emotionally significant item belonging to another player character in the city. They will need to find the owner of that item and return it to them—this can either be inside the bank vault or in another location within the city. Regardless of where the meeting takes place, the character holding the item will find themselves unable to leave until the character who owns the item explains its significance; as they do, the holder of the item will find themselves swept up in the emotional highs and lows of the memories associated with that item, allowing them to share all of the feelings, regrets, joys, griefs, and rages that the owner experiences in the telling. Additionally, for the four days following the event, characters who carry their safety deposit box item on their person will feel oddly compelled to tell other characters about its significance and meaning.
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WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.
If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations.
This month's event headers come from "The Things" and "The Gatherer," two poems by Brendan Constantine. The text of the paper slip comes from Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed.
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citylogs2023-07-19 08:45 pm
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in reality, it doesn't. not at all.
but, that's not to state he doesn't link and wave his own thoughts into the man's supplemental follow-up. ] Just like that? [ he tilts his chin. ] It isn't always easy to make people follow your will.
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(He agrees.)
But with the right words... you'd be surprised by how much easier things can be.
(He closes his hands around the rosary, wrapping it in his palm and smiles at Yoshida-- bright and friendly but not quite reaching the eye. He can feel the words coming up, swelling like a great wave that he can't control. This really is a pain, isn't it? But he knows once he lets it out, this compulsive feeling will pass--)
It was my rallying cry when I needed to gather an army. I promised them "paraiso" and they were happy to follow.
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there's a pause as he seems to take in his words with a composed face. ] The right words, huh? Guess you ended up finding them. [ they say people are either moved by promises of paradise, or prophecies of destruction, after all. ]
So why did you decide on "paraiso"? You could have promised them anything else. [ or you could have threatened them. there were a number of other options available, and yoshida doesn't deny that maybe there was something about this man's character hidden in the answer to his question. ]
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It’s what they wanted.
( So he only promised them what they wanted. )
Whether they were poor or angry or wanted to fight or have peace… do you know what humans desire?
( Humans. People that aren’t like him. )
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the way he says "humans" isn't all too unfamiliar to him, and yet, it doesn't exactly give him any more or less insight. to begin with, there's probably a lot to be said about a man who promises to give people what they desire in exchange for their loyalty.
though, that isn't to state that he even really knows what this is all about. but, at the question, he can't help but ponder on it for a few seconds. almost as if he were purposely making a show of the amount of consideration he puts in, before he says: ] To be free of death? [ ... ]
To never go hungry?
1/2
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( He’ll give it to him. And he crosses his arms, nodding sagely (dramatically) to himself, )
To live well. To be fed, respected, loved, accepted… most wars begin simply because people are hungry or wanted to be valued!
( He’s cracked the code. He’s figured out human nature. )
Offer them something better and humans will do anything for a chance at it.
( Promise “Paraiso” and you can get yourself a pretty impressive army. )
Just for a chance.
no subject
loved, accepted...
still, the idea makes him exhale a bit in a touch of humor. ] A chance. That all sounds pretty normal though, doesn't it? [ maybe that's what it really means to live a "normal life." maybe more than being normal, it was the comforts that inevitably came with—
not that he would know anything about that. ] So what'd you do with them?
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(Whoever "they" are.)
Ah, but then Yoshida gets right to the real, issue. He asks the heavy question. The one that makes this rosary in his hand weigh like 37,000 times heavier. His mouth is sealed shut, forming a tight, thin line as he tries to keep the words down.
(He'd thought talking lightly and speaking around it would be enough. It had been enough. Just enough to scratch the itch while keeping others from getting too close to the truth.)
Like the waves had risen, crashing against the cliffs behind them,
Caught in a difficult place with nowhere else to run,
The words begin to spill out uncontrollably,)
I put on a show and pretended to be a Messenger from Heaven but in the end... it was just a show. I lead 'em all to the sea and let it wash 'em all away.
(Still vague but as direct as Tsurumaru Kuninaga gets.)
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in this case, however, it isn't like he can turn away from his own line of inquiry. he's committed, and admittedly, he's curious. he wonders how much of this man's world echos or is completely separate from his own.
but, however its worded, the messaging was clear. ] Hm... [ wash them all away... ]
Why? You don't strike me as being particularly happy about it, so why do all this in the first place? [ was it someone's orders? some sort of mission? ]
1/2
(When he finishes, there's a sense of calm and control that returns to Tsurumaru. It seems like he's spilled enough to satisfy this swelling feeling he had. So he lets the question sit for a moment and then glances over in Yoshida's direction.
He wonders how much he'll be able to really figure out but it doesn't matter. If he's a smart kid, he'll understand enough. He doesn't have to know the significant event to know what he'd been getting at.)
(And instantly, he kicks his legs out from him and jumps up onto his feet. He tucks his hand into the sleeve of his robe, dropping the rosary for safekeeping and smiles, perhaps too cheerfully,)
no subject
(And he starts to approach Yoshida, taking a couple of steps closer just so he can get into his space and study him. Who exactly is this kid asking him questions? Pale, gold eyes watch him and Yoshida might get the sense that even if Tsurumaru is close right now, there's a look and feel in his gaze like he's actually observing from a distance.
He doesn't try to hide it. Tsurumaru Kuninaga is not someone that lets others get close to him.)
Who are you?
(He doesn't even bother answering the question now that he feels like he doesn't have to.)
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there is an obvious pause there as his lips curve slightly in amusement. well, that was one way to dodge a topic. still, other than this, yoshida's other features remain the same. if this stranger had once smiled without it reaching his eyes— he also doesn't seem particularly sincere, either. something casual and lax in his stance, even as the man steps closer. if he's somehow rubbed him the wrong way, yoshida doesn't seem the least bit apologetic.
if he was studying him, yoshida does the same. his eyes tracing over him, before he lifts a finger up, as if to somehow add exclamation to his otherwise very lackluster words: ] I'm Yoshida. [ all that built up tension for that...
but, he follows up with a: ] That's one way to avoid a question.
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"Yoshida." What an ordinary name...)
Not everything has an answer.
(Or an answer someone wants to give. And he reaches out to boop Yoshida on the nose (if he lets him).)
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fitting for just your average high schooler. ✨ ]
Really? I always thought everything had an answer... [ at the boop, he just sort of looks past the finger and straight at the man in front of him. it's true he didn't feel anything about being sized up, and that lack of fear is present even now as he speaks clearly. ]
It's just our job to find them. [ :) ] Gosh, look at me talk. I didn't mean to say that I was planning on prying in your business. [ he takes a clear step back. if just to temporarily relent on the topic, before: ]
What should I call you?
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(If not with this than with something else. He'll make sure to remember this boy, though. He's strange. Interesting but in a way that also makes him feel a little... well, he feels like he should make sure this one doesn't get too close.)
... Tsurumaru.
no subject
though, he wonders if denji even met this man?
well, it isn't like he laid all his cards out, either. but, he seems satisfied enough with a name for now. ]
What else do we have but time? [ he says it lightly as if it doesn't have a lot to do with him. ]
I have a feeling we may see each other around, Tsurumaru. I'll be in your care.